Re: [BNW] GURPS Brave New World (long post)

[The White Crow <whytcrow@io.com>]

Ok, we're getting off topic here in parts, but I feel I need to respond in 
part.  However, I somehow didn't get the message I want to reply to, only 
the reply to the reply.  Sigh.  Email.

> > Converting BNW to GURPS is kinda messy at best. As a person who was
> > involved in another multi-genre RPG (West End's late, beloved TORG) I
> > know what a mess a "generic" system can be. No matter how simple the
> > rules may be, to fine-tune the universe for a specific genre, you
> > have to add on additional rules and geegaws, and the whole mess
> > becomes unwieldy.

I'd argue that this isn't always the case, but I haven't done anything like 
TORG in a long time.  I bet I could do it in Fudge without it becoming 
unwieldy.  But that's neither here nor there.

>Plus, the GURPS system is not well regarded
> > nationally. (The way I hear it, Steve Jackson is so disliked by some
> > game authors, they call the company "SJG" so they won't have to say
> > his name.)

Not well regarded?  I know lots of people that use it.  And even the people 
like me who can't stand to play the system buy the sourcebooks because they 
are well written and of high quality.  As for whether or not Steve Jackson 
is well liked, I know that like most people in the industry he has made his 
enemies.  However, if it weren't for Steve Jackson taking time out of his 
Lego Pirate Game at DragonCon last year to explain to Katherine Kurtz how 
gaming licensing works, Grey Ghost Press might never have gotten the 
license (and I wouldn't be writing the book!).

>This may well be the case but as a Guide I have a commitment to my group for
>them to enjoy the game they devote valuable hours each week to play. So
>after trying out the BNW system both myself and the players were not
>enjoying the seemingingly unbalanced nature of some power packages and
>having a Speedster & a TK in the group only made it worse because their
>tricks (based on sucesses on a dodge roll) couldn't be fixed to my
>satisfaction or theirs. So the choice was stop playing (and have me waste
>all the time & money I spent in creating and purchasing all the books) or
>find a system we could all live with. GURPS was the system we decided on.

I certainly find the system choice baffling, but if it works for you, go 
for it.  You've already seen it be a messy conversion, and apparently there 
aren't any GURPS gurus here to help with the number crunchy bits.  We don't 
have GURPS Supers, so I can't help there.

A suggestion:  take the power package you think is most balanced or the 
right power level.  Build that in GURPS.  Then, take that number of points 
and build the rest of the power packages.  That's the best way to keep them 
balanced.

> > The games that were adapted to GURPS, such as "Traveller" and
> > "Vampire: The Gorehound's Best Friend," have not done well since.
>
>having no actual sales figures to go on I can't say whether this is the case
>but I would suggest that SJG would not keep pumping out book after book of
>Traveller material if the stuff wasn't selling.

Traveller is doing *very* well, I believe.  Vampire and whatnot aren't, 
mostly because a dispute between SJG and WW ended the agreement, and thus 
the books haven't been updated or (probably) reprinted.

>GURPS doesn't rely on high rolls. The idea is to minus the target number
>from their skill and then have them roll under it. Personally I think the
>mechanic is much cleaner than successes & raises.

Depends on how your brain works, I guess.  I found GURPS's modifier heavy 
system meant that as a player I never knew what my chances to succeed were 
since I couldn't keep up with all the possible modifiers.  But that's just 
me.  BNW's successes works fine for me, especially since I got rid of most 
modifiers and made the big ones just 5.

>GURPS Supers IST is their four colour high powered Supers campaign but they
>also had Wild Cards which was the lower powered more "realistic" level
>Supers world. Sadly this is now out of print. But either way this may be a
>concern if I was writing it with the aim of SJG buying it but I am just
>doing this for my group and maybe if I see a demand to publish it on the
>web.

I think you should put it up on the web.

Peace and cheerfulness,
Jennifer
--
The White Crow
Author:  The Deryni Roleplaying Game (Coming early 2002, Grey Ghost Press)
My RPG pages:  http://www.io.com/~whytcrow/
Living Writing: A Column at http://www.free-epress.com/columns/index.htm